MD Cause: unknown

MD Rx: Prescription medications to manage the situation. There are many different types of drugs that are used here:

• Beta Blockers: These drugs inhibit the action of biochemicals that the body makes called adrenaline and noradrenaline. They are more effective in treating arrhythmias of the heart, but they are still used in the management of blood pressure.

• Calcium Channel Blockers: This is a somewhat complicated subject. The flow of calcium in the body is intimately related with the dilate the diameter of blood vessels the how strong the heartbeats the number of beats per minute that the heartbeats and the function of the adrenal glands plus many other things. Calcium channel blocking drugs affect every part of the body that is involved with the movement of calcium. This is why calcium channel blockers have so many side effects.

• ACE Inhibitors: ACE is an acronym for “Angiotensin Converting Enzyme.” This drug inhibits it. Sometimes the body finds it helpful to increase blood pressure. This is usually initiated in the kidney. The kidney secretes a chemical called renin. Renin travels through the bloodstream and enters into the liver. The liver converts renin into angiotensin. Angiotensin constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure. ACE inhibitors stop renin from being converted to angiotensin. No angiotensin = no increase in blood pressure.

ND Cause: Mineral deficiencies with an emphasis on Calcium and Magnesium; Omega-3 EFA deficiencies; or chronic inflammation in the kidneys - or all of them put together.

Discussion: Every few years the American Heart Association lowers its recommendations for “safe” blood pressure numbers. When I was taking my Pre-Med courses at the University of Massachusetts in the mid-80s the upper end of a normal blood pressure reading was 140/90. As a matter of fact, you had to have 3 consecutive readings where each number was elevated, for you to be given a diagnosis of High Blood Pressure, and to be considered a candidate for blood pressure medication.  Fast-forward 35 years. Now if you have ONE reading where ONE number is elevated above 120/80 you are immediately given a diagnosis of Hypertension and put on the meds. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that these more relaxed guidelines will sell more drugs. Wouldn’t you know it, but the research that lead to the new blood pressure parameters was funded by the drug companies. Apparently, there is a conflict of interest if a wholistic physician sells a patient a vitamin, but if the Pharmaceutical industry pays for research that increases the sale of its drugs - that’s OK. Yet another of my pet peeves with the allopathic community is their unapologetic duplicity. It is one more reason for you to stop giving them your trust. Another reason that the MDs are OK with the consistent lowering of the blood-pressure ranges over time is because they are not concerned with curing it – nor do they think that a cure is even possible. So once your blood pressure numbers start to creep up, they will put you on a blood pressure medication because from their point of view it is only a matter of time before you fall off of that cliff. This is the same logic which informs their recommendations to preventively remove the tonsils, the adenoids, the appendix, the uterus, and the gallbladder etc. It is only a matter of time before those things cause trouble. You can live without them, so why not just yank ‘em out beforehand.[1]

Hypertension is called the “Silent Killer” because you can have Sky-High blood pressure and not know that anything is wrong. You won’t feel any different than you always do. This is why it is Super-Important to measure your blood pressure on a regular basis. Therefore, a blood-pressure cuff is a Mandatory part of your Self-Help-Health-Recovery Armamentarium. Get the most expensive Blood Pressure machine that you can afford, and then take it to your local Fire-Department. Have a Fireman check your blood pressure with your machine and with their equipment. The numbers should be the same. If they are not, bring your unit back to the store and get a different brand, then have it checked for accuracy. Your machine MUST be accurate because if it is off by a number or two you will be misled as to the true nature of your condition. When you are checking your blood pressure at home, try your best to take it each day at noon. Your body has an internal clock. Scientists refer to it as your Circadian Rhythm. It is the natural inclination of your body to increase and decrease its internal metabolic functioning relative to the time of the day. If you take your Blood Pressure when your Circadian Rhythm is high (6:45 AM, 6:30 PM) then you will not know if it is really high or if it was high due to bad timing.

The Blood Pressure numbers that I stand by are the ones I talked about in the first paragraph. In order for you to need Blood Pressure Medication you need to have 3 consecutive readings where each number is elevated above 140/90. If just one number is elevated, or if both numbers are elevated, but not all 3 times, then you are Borderline Hypertensive and are a candidate for my treatment. You are always a candidate for my treatment, but if you really do have high blood pressure then you should get a prescription for a blood pressure medication from a licensed ND or MD. You can wean off of it once my program starts to work, but you need to use the drug to get you into a safe blood pressure zone while we are attempting to cure the underlying problems that caused you to get high blood pressure in the first place. This rationale is kind of like putting a cast on a broken bone while we are waiting for it to heal.

Your body needs calcium, magnesium and Omega-3 fatty acids to help your muscles constrict and relax. If you don’t have enough of these nutrients then muscles will constrict, but not relax. This is called a cramp or a spasm. The same mechanism is at play when you get muscle tics or twitches. You may find it interesting to realize that the arteries in your body contain muscles. (Your veins also do, but proportionally much less than arteries.) Arteries carry oxygen and nutrient rich blood away from the heart to all of the tissues in your body. The muscles in the arteries constrict and relax to help the heart pump the blood to its destinations. If the muscles in the arteries (and/or the veins) constrict, but do not relax, then the blood pressure goes up. The same thing happens when you squeeze a garden hose – the water comes out faster because you have increased the pressure by decreasing the diameter of the hose. The FIRST thing to consider when someone’s blood pressure is rising, or is already high, is that it is due to deficiencies in calcium, magnesium, Omega 3s, or all three.

Another cause of Hypertension is a problem in the kidneys. The job of the kidneys is to filter “bad” stuff out of the blood and then excrete it from the body. Your urine is composed mostly of the “bad” stuff that the kidneys have removed from the blood. In order to filter the blood, the kidneys are jam packed with hundreds of miles of sub-microscopic blood vessels. You can only see these blood vessels with an electron microscope – they are so small that only one blood cell at a time can pass through them. If these blood vessels become clogged, then trouble begins. If the drain in your toilet gets clogged, then you bring in a plunger and try to force out the clog. The body attempts to do the same thing when the blood vessels in the kidneys get clogged. When this happens, the kidneys secrete a biochemical called Renin. Renin travels through the blood and eventually gets to the liver. Once in the liver, it gets transformed into another biochemical called Angiotensin. Angiotensin causes the blood pressure to go up. The blood pressure rises because the body is trying to force the clog out of the blood vessel. The body is smart, but it not perfect. The increased blood pressure is inadequate to the cause. It simply cannot remove the clog. There is a lot of debate as to what causes the blood vessels to get jammed up. I am of the opinion that it is inflammation. The presence of angiotensin in the blood does NOTHING at all to eliminate the source of the inflammation. What is the source of inflammation? The consistent consumption of the 12 Bad Foods, and the chronic deficiencies of the 90 EN that the body needs to put out the fires of inflammation once they begin.

Therefore, the therapeutic intervention to someone suffering with High Blood Pressure is twofold:

1) We eliminate the 12 Bad foods and deliver the 90 EN.

2) We deliver extra calcium, magnesium and Omega 3 fatty acids to make sure that the muscles in the arteries can relax appropriately, then we deliver nutrients and herbs to help the body clean out the clogs in the blood vessels of the kidneys.

My Rx: In addition to the 90 EN:

• Beyond Osteo Fx powder: 1 bottle per 100 pounds per month. 2 scoops per bottle per day in 2 divided doses. Mix 1 scoop with 3 ounces of fresh squeezed orange juice and 3 ounces of water.

• Cell Shield RTQ: 1 bottle per 75 pounds per month. Take in 2-3 divided doses with meals each day.

• Muscadine Grape Extract: 1 bottle per 50 pounds per month. Take in 2-3 divided doses with meals.

• Good Herbs Heart Support: Acute dose described in the Good Herbs webinar in the Medical Insight section of this website for 3 months.

• Ultimate Selenium: 1 bottle per 100 pounds per month, not to exceed 4 bottles per month. Take in 2 divided doses between meals.

• Projoba Omega: 1 bottle per 100 pounds per month. Take in 2 or 3 divided doses with food.

Take your blood pressure with an accurate machine each day at noon. Write the numbers down on a note pad. When you see the numbers start to drop, go back to your MD and have the prescription meds reduced. Continue in this manner until you don’t need the meds anymore.

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[1] And I’m the quack...!